Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
SPECIFICATION
Back~round of the Invention
This invention relates to combination or
permutation locks, for luggage, for example, and is par-
ticularly concerned with combination locks in which the
combination may be changed by the user.
Combination locks which permit the user to change
the combination are well-known. See, for example, U.S.
Patent Nos. 3,416,338; 3,597,945; and 3,720,082, all as-
signed to the same assignee as the present invention.
In the combination locks disclosed in Patent Nos. 3,416,338
and 3,597,945, a plurality of combination dials and cooper-
ating sleeves rotate about a common axis. The sleeves are
normally coupled to corresponding dials for rotation there-
with. Except when the dials are on-combination, the
sleeves block movement of a slide relative to the sleeves
that is required to open the lock. To change the combin- -
ation, the sleeves are uncoupled from the corresponding
dials by moving the sleeves axially relative to the dials.
In the combination lock of Patent No. 3,720,082, sleeves
are moved axially in one direction relative to t~e combin-
ation dials to open ~he lock and are moved axially in the
opposite direction to permit the combination to be changed.
The present invention is in some respects an improve.ment
upon the combination locks of the aforesaid patents, par-
ticularly w;th respect to the changing of the combination.
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Brief Description of the Invention
It is accordingly a principal object of the
present invention to provide an improved combination lock.
A further object of the invention is to provide
an improved combination lock in which the same actuator
is employed to unlock the lock and to change the com~in-
ation, but in which the actuator cannot be used to change
the combination until a stop mechanism is rendered ineffective~
Yet another object of the invention is to provide
a combination lock of the aforesaid type in which'the same
stop m~chanism permits the combination to be changed without
holding the actuator manually.
Briefly stated, in one of its broad aspects, a
combination lock in accordance with the invention comprises
actuator means movable in a predetermined direction from a
rest position to an unlocking position, only when thè lock
is on~combination, to unlock the lock, and. furthèr`movable
in said predetermined direction beyond the unlocking posi-
tion to a combination-changing position to permit the'
2~ combination to be changed, stop means normally effective`to
prevent mo~ement of the ac~uator means to t~e'combination-
changing position, and manually operable means for rendering
the stop means ineffective.
Brie`f De's'c'ripti'o'n 'of'the Drawi'ngs
The foregoing and other objects and features of
the invention will become more fully apparent upon con-
sideration of t~he following detailed description of the
invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying draw-
ings, which illustrate a preferred and e~'emplary embodiment
of the invention, and wherein:
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Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the
external appearance o~ a combination lock in accordance
with the invention;
Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of
the lock illustrating the manner in which the lock is opened;
Figures 3 and 4 are transverse sectional views
taken along lines 3-3 and 4-4, respectively, in Figure 2;
Figure 5 is a longituclinal sectional view of the
lock illustrating the manner in ~hich the combination is
changed;
. Figure 6 is an end view of a sleeve which may be
employed in the invention;
Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view of the
sleeve;
Figure 8 is an end view of a dial which may be
employed in the invention;
Figure 9 is a side elevation view of the dial;
Figure 10 is a perspective view of a slide which
may be employed in the invention;
Figu~e 11 is a perspective view of an actuator
which may be employed in the invention;
Figure 12 is a perspective view of a plunger which
may be employed in ~he invention; and
Figures 13-16 ar~ somewhat diagrammatic longitudinal
sectional views illustrating different operating conditions
of the lock.
Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring to the drawings, and initially to Figure
1, a combination lock 10 in accordance with the invention
may comprise a case or housing 12 including a plate 14 and
a frame 16. The case may be mounted on a panel or wall of
luggage, for example, by inserting the frame 16 in a
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corresponding hole in th~ wall and attaching the plate to
the wall by means o~ rivets in holes 18 o-f the plate. At
the ~ace of the lock, peripheraL portions of three com-
bination dials 20 are exposed through slots 22 in plate 14.
A slot 24 in plate 14 provides access to a ~atch member
26, which cooperates with an eye member 28, for example.
The eye member may be integral with a tongue 30 of a hasp
32 having a base 34 pivotally supporting the tongue.
Tongue 30 may be biased away from case 12 by a spring (not 10 shown) forming part of the mechanism of hasp 32. The hasp
may be mounted on another panel or wall that is to be held
closed with respect to the panel or wall on which case 12
is mounted. For this purpose rivets may be inserted in
corresponding holes 36 at opposite ends of base 34 ~only
one hole being shown in Figure 1). Protruding from slot
24 at one end of plate 14 is an operator 38 of a plunger
employed in changing the combination, as will be described
later. At the opposite end of plate 14 is an actuator 40
employed to unlock the lock and also used in changing the
combination.
As shown in Figure 2, plate 14 and frame 16 may
be assembled to form the case 12 in a conventional manner,
as by means of rivets 42 integral with the plate. -Housed
within case 12 are the dials 20 and corresponding sleeves
44 supported on a shaft 46 for rotation about the axis of
the shaft. Also housed in case 12 is a slide 48 (see Figure
10) having a base portion 50 movable longitudinally along
the bottom of frame 16. An end portion 52 of the slide ex-
tends transversely to the bàse portion 50 and has a hole 54
for supporting one end of shaft 46. The free extremity of
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end portion 52 constitutes the latch member 26 and is
tapered as sho~n for camming engagement with the corres-
pondingly tapered eye member 28. Laterally extending lugs
56 constitute stop elements for limiting the longitudinal
movement of slide 48, as will be described later. The
opposite end portion 58 of the slide has a pair of holes 60
which receive depending legs 62 of the actuator 40. Inte-
gral rivets 64 at the bottom of legs 62 may be employed
to attach the actuator to the slide 48 as shown in Figure 2,
so that the actuator becomes, in effect, part of the slide.
Actuator 40 projects from ~he case 12 through a slot 66
in plate 14. A bracl~et 68 is attached to slide 48, as
by means of an integral stud 70 (see Figure 3~ inserted
in a slot 72 in end portion 58 of the slide, and is also
in effect part of the slide. The bracket supports the remain-
ing end o shaft 46, which extends through a hole 74 in
bracket 68.
Sleeves 44 are arranged on shaft 4~ in sequence
between bracket 68 and a shoulder 76 on the shaft. Each
sleeve 44 in the sequence abuts the next sleeve in the
sequence. The sleeve at one end of the sequence engages
bracket 68, and the sleeve at the oppos,ite end of the se-
quence engages the shoulder 76. The sleeves are preferably
shaped as shown in Figures 6 and 7, having external gear
teeth 78 spaced evenly about the periphery of the sleeve,
but with one tooth missing to provide a gap 80. It is ap-
parent in Figure 7 that teeth 78 do not extend the full
length of the sleeve and are closer to one end of the sleeve
than to the other. Also, each sleeve may be provided with
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a recess 82 at a point opposite the gap 80 so that the
existing combination may be determined when the back o~
case 12 is exposed, as described in Patent No. 3,597,945,
by passing a fine wire into each of holes 83 in the frame
16 until the recesses 82 are located.
The dials 20 preferably have the configuration
shown in Figures 8 and 9. Each dial has numerals or
other combination characters spaced evenly a~out the peri-
phery of the dial and has notches 84 located between the
successive numerals for engagement with a dial spring 86~
as sho~,n in Figure 3. The dial spring may have a plurality
of leaf spring arms 88 struck from a common plate 90,
which may be supported on rivets 92 formed at the ends of
studs 94 integral with plate 14. The free ends of arms
88 may be shaped to form detents as shown in dotted lines
in Figure 3, which pass smoothly into and out of the
notches 84. As shown and described in the aforementioned
patents, all of notches 84, except one notch 84a, pref-
erably have symmetrically divergent walls so that each
-20 dial may be turned in either direction past its spring arm 88
and be held releasably when stopped with a notch 84 re-
ceiving the end of its arm 88. ~otch 84a has one wall that
extends generally radially of the dial, so that when the dial
is turned in one direction, the end of the cooperatlng spring
arm 88 will eventually engage the radial wall of notch 84a
and stop the rotation of the dial at a zero-index poin~.
Rotation of the dial in the opposite direction is not
impeded by the radial wall of notch 84a.
Each dial is formed with internal gear teeth 9
at one end of the dial. These ~ear teeth normally mesh
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with gear teeth 78 of a sleeve 44, each sleeve fi-tting
within a corresponding dial 20 and supporting the dial
thereon as shown in Figure 2. Thus, the sleeves are
normally coupled to and turn with the dials.
Excep~ when the dials are on-combination, and
the sleeves 44 have a predetermined orientation, abut-
ments 98, which may be integral with plate 14 (see Figures
2 and 5) block movement of the sleeves 44 relative to the
dials 20 along the axis of shaft 46 in the direction of
arrow a in Figure 2. When the dials are on-combination,
the sleeves are oriented so that each gap 80 is aligned
with an adjacent abutment 98 in order that the sleeves
may clear the abutments and move in the direction of arrow
a. Movemen~ of the sleeves in tha~ direction is accom-
plished by manually moving the actuator 40 in that direction,
~rom its rest position shown in full lines in Figure 2 to
its unlocking position shown in phantom lines, which moves
the slide 48 in the same direction. End portion 52 of the
slide engages one end of shoulder 76 of shaft 46, and
2n the opposite end of the shoulder engages the adjacent
sleeve 44. Since the sleeves are all in contact with one
another, they all move in the direction of arrow a along
with shaft 46. At the same time, the latch member 26 is
moved from a closed position (shown in full lines in Figure
2) to an open position (shown in phantom lines) and is
withdrawn from the eye member 28, releasing the tongue 30.
wnlen the sleeves are moved as indicated in
Figure 2, they remain coupled to dials 20, since gear
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teeth 78 do not move sufficiently to become disengaged
from gear teeth 98 o~ the dials. The gear teeth 78 at
opposite sides of gaps 80 embrace the associated abutments
98 when the sleeves are in the phantom line position of
5 Figure 2, and thus dials 20 cannot be turned until actu-
ator 40 is returned to its rest position. When manual
pressure on actuator 40 ceases, a coil spring l00, sur-
rounding an end of shaft 46, moves bracket 68 in the dir-
ection opposite to arrow a. Since the bracket engages an
adjacent sleeve 44, all of the sleeves are moved in the
same direction. The assembly of sleeves 44, shaft 46,
slider 48, and actùator ~0 is thus returned to its normal
rest position.
Movement of actuator 40 in the direction of
arrow a is normally limited so that the sleeves cannot
move su~ficiently to become disengaged from the dials.
For this purpose stop elements 56 of slide 48 (Figure 10)
engage cooperating stop elements 102 of a plunger 104 (Figure
12). Operator 38 of the plunger was referred to previously
in the description of Figure 1. The operator extends from
a base portion 106 of the plunger, the base portion having
a protuberance 108 that is received in one end of a coil
spring 110, the other end of which fits over a protuberance
li2 of the frame 16 as shown in Figure 2. Spring 110
normally biases plunger 104 to a position a~ which the
operator 38 projects from slot 24 as shown. Stop elements
102 of the plunger extend from arms 11~ which have laterally
extending guide portions 116 for guiding the movement of the
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plunger between opposite walls of the frame 16 as shown
in Figure 4. In the normal rest position o~ plunger 104,
stop elements 102 are in the path of movement of stop ele-
ments 56 in the direction of arrow a in Figure 2. When
slide 48 is moved in that direction, one side of stop ele-
ments 56 engages one side of elements 102, blocking further
movement of slide 48 and preventing actuator 40 from moving
to its combination-changing position. Figure 13 shows the
position of slide 48 relative to plunger 104 -in the
normal closed condition of the lock, w~ile Figure 14 shows
the relative positions of parts 48 and 104 in the open
condition o the lock, with stop elements 56 blocked by
stop elements 102.
To change the combination, actuator 40 must be
moved beyond its unlocking position, shown in Figure 14,
to a combination-changing position. To accomplish this,
operator 38 of plunger 104 must be depressed momentarily,
as shown in Figure 15, to move stop elements.102 out of the
path of stop elements 56, rendering the stop mechanism
ineffective, so that the assembly of actuator 40, slide 48,
sleeves 44, and shaft 46 can continue to move in the direc-
tion of arrow a to the position shown in Figure 5 Slide 48
- and plunger 104 then have the positions shown in Figure 15.
If manual pressurè on operator 38 of the plunger 104 is re-
leased, the plunger will move to the position shown in
Figure 16. This causes stop elements 102 to be reinserted
into the path of stop elements 56 as shown. Manual pres-
sure on actuator 40 can then be terminated, and when spring .
100 moves slide 48 in a return direction opposite to arrow
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a in Figure 5, stop elements 56 will again engage stop
elements 102, but at the side opposite to the initial en-
gagement described above, as sho~n in Figure 16, to pre-
vent further movement of the slide 48 and the sleeves 44
in the return direction.
In the combination-changing position, shown in
Figure 16, the gear teeth 78 o-f sleeves 44 are disengaged
from the gear teeth 96 of dials 20, as they are in Figure
5 just prior to manual release of actuator 40, so that
the sleeves are uncoupled from the dials. Dials 20, now
free of sleeves 44, may be turned relative to-the sleeves
~or choosing a new combination. If then the operator
38 is depressed again, stop elements 56 will be disengaged
from stop elements 102. Spring 100 will then move the
assembly of actuator 40, slide 48, shaft 46, and sleeves
44 in the direction opposite to arrow a, returning the
parts to their normal rest position and re-coupling the
sleeves to the dials.
It is apparent from the foregoing description
that the preferred embodiment of the invention provides
a simple combination lock in which an actuator which moves
in a predetermined direction to unlock the lock is moved
further in that direction for changing the combina~ion.
The actuator is only permitted to move to its combination-
changing position when the lock is unlocked and only whena stop mechanism has been rendered ineffective by depressing
a manual operator. Moreover, the actuator need not be held
manually during the changing of the combination, and the
parts return automatically to their no~mal rest position
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~hen the operator of the stop mechanism is depressed
again after the combination is changed. As shown in Figure
2, the manual operator is covered or hidden when the latch
member is in engagement with the tongue of the hasp. The
operator is exposed at the face of the lock only when the
lock is unlocked, as shown in Figure 1.
While a pre~erred fo~ of the invention has been
shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled
in the art that changes can be made in this embodiment
1~ without departing from the principles and spirit of the
invention, the scope of which is defined in the appended
claims. For example, within the broader aspects of the
invention, slide 48 could move relative to sleeves 44 in
the direction of arrow a to open the latch, such movement
being blocked by interference between the slide and the
! sleeves except wh~n the dials are on-combination, and then
the slide could move the sleeves to uncouple them from the
dials when the actuator is moved to the combination-
changing position. Also, the shaft 46 could be station-
ary, with the slide and the sleeves being moved along the
shaft by the actua~or.
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